17 Classic Atlanta Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time

While Atlanta is always buzzing with sparkly new restaurant openings, the city is also full of longtime dining destinations that continue to shine as they stand the test of time. From soul food institutions to a decades-old Japanese restaurant, these

iconic Atlanta restaurants remain the city’s favorites for good reason.

The restaurants are listed geographically from north to south. Don’t see a favorite classic restaurant on this list? Send Eater the details for the next update to

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Ray's on the River

6700 Powers Ferry Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30339, USA

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Ray Schoenbaum sold his namesake Sandy Springs restaurant in 2024, 40 years after it opened on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. New owners TEI Hospitality kept the restaurant’s core identity intact, including the beloved surf-and-turf menu. Snag a seat on the lawn or main patio for sunset and sweeping river views, or swing by weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. for half-off oysters and $12 martinis.

Matthews Cafeteria

2299 Main St, Tucker, GA 30084, USA

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Since 1955, this old-school cafeteria has been loading brown plastic trays with Southern staples like crispy fried chicken, country-fried steak, macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, and Brunswick stew made with smoked chicken. Owner Michael Green, grandson of founders Bill and Louise Matthews, met his wife Jenna during lunch service at the restaurant, and a plaque in the dining room marks the spot. Order ahead to skip the line.

Bones Restaurant

3130 Piedmont Rd NE, Atlanta, GA, 30305, US

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This clubby Buckhead steakhouse has been pouring martinis and searing steaks the same way since 1979, and regulars wouldn’t have it any other way. Bones bans cell phones in the dining room and enforces adress code, so expect a crowd of power diners working throughsteakhouse staples like shrimp cocktail, dry-aged steaks, the burger, and creamed spinach. Solo diners can pull up to the U-shaped bar to watch the game. Just leave the flip-flops at home.

La Grotta Ristorante

2637 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, USA

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For nearly half a century, this Buckhead Italian restaurant has been astandard-bearer for fine dining in Atlanta. Expect white tablecloths, polished tuxedoed service, and a deep wine list to pair with lobster pappardelle or white-truffle-laced risotto. Generations of Atlantans have marked birthdays, anniversaries, and Sunday dinners here.

Nino's Italian Restaurant

1931 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30324, USA

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Atlanta’s longest-running Italian restaurant threw open its doors on Cheshire Bridge Road in 1968, under an owner known for belting opera around the dining room. Antonio Noviello bought it in 1982 and made it an institution, and today his daughter and her husband run the place. This red-sauce joint is known for its housemade pastas and an uncanny ability to keep change almost imperceptible. Order standards like spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, or veal parmesan, or go for the fettuccine with shrimp and scallops tossed in a Pernod-saffron cream sauce.

The Colonnade Restaurant

1879 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30324, USA

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Look for the glowing midcentury neon sign. The Colonnade opened in 1927 and moved to Cheshire Bridge Road in 1962, and it’s been servingSouthern comfort food ever since: chicken-fried steak with white gravy, fried green tomatoes, tomato aspic, collard greens, and sweet potato souffle, all washed down with stiff classic cocktails. The regulars are loyal. When longtime owner Jodi Stallings retired in 2024, two of them, Paul Donahue and Lewis Jeffries, bought the place and kept it largely as it was. The restaurant turns 100 in next year.

Nakato Restaurant

1776 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE, Atlanta, GA, 30324, US

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After over 50 years,Nakato is now led by the founder’s granddaughter, Sachi Nakato Takahara, who recently oversaw a $2.4 million renovation of the Cheshire Bridge Road institution. The update brought a new entrance, a freshly painted dining room, and new hibachi grills to replace ones that had been in service for more than 30 years. The bar is now topped with white oak from a tree that fell nearby inDruid Hills. The bar is now topped with white oak from a tree that fell nearby inDruid Hills. Pull up to the sushi bar, sit in a tatami room, or gather around the hibachi grill or in the garden. Though the space looks new, the heart of Nakato — sushi, teppanyaki, hibachi, and its family-run legacy — haven’t changed.

The Silver Skillet

200 14th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA

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This old-school 14th Street diner has been serving honest Southern breakfasts with exactly zero frills since 1956. The interior is frozen in time: avocado-green vinyl booths, checkered linoleum floors, and Formica tables. Office workers, Georgia Tech students, and tourists all flock in for country ham with redeye gravy, big fluffy biscuits smothered in white gravy, and desserts like peach cobbler and banana pudding. Plus, lots of movies have been filmed in the authentically vintage space, including Anchorman 2.

Atkins Park Restaurant & Bar

794 N Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306, USA

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Though Atkins Park opened in 1922 as a delicatessen, it swiftly secured a liquor license when Prohibition ended in Georgia, making it Atlanta’s oldest continuously licensed tavern. The cozy brick and wood-paneled space in Virginia-Highland serves casual pub fare like boiled Georgia peanuts, deviled eggs, chicken and dumplings, and the Bruno burger, a circa-1978 classic with sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and provolone.

Majestic Diner

1031 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306, USA

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Open on Ponce de Leon Avenue since the tail end of the Roaring Twenties, the Majestic was a 24/7 diner for decades and Atlanta’s favoritelate-night refuge. It cut overnight service during the pandemic and never brought it back. Today patrons perch on red vinyl stools in the midcentury dining room for breakfast and lunch, served daily from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Still, the menu is built for soaking up last night’s drinks: patty melts, fluffy biscuits and gravy, omelets, and milkshakes.

Mary Mac's Tea Room

224 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA

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Mary McKenzie openedMary Mac’s Tea Room on Ponce de Leon Avenue in 1945, when it was one of 16 tearooms in Atlanta. Today it’s the last one standing. The restaurant changed hands in 2020, but the menu, decor, and service have barely budged. Expect fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, and yeast rolls, plus sweet tea, deviled eggs, hush puppies, Hoppin’ John, fried chicken livers, tomato pie, and potlikker. Order the Southern Special for an all-you-can-eat feast served family style: three entrees, three sides, and dessert.

Manuel's Tavern

602 North Highland Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307, USA

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For 70 years and three generations of the Maloof family, this tavern has been the watering hole of Atlanta politics. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have all stopped in, and on election night, journalists, politicians, and political junkies pack in to swig beer and watch the results roll in. The rest of the time, it’s the neighborhood’s communal living room, where locals pull up a stool for a pint or a burger under the flicker of muted TVs. The tavern’s 1922 building, crammed with decades of photos and political memorabilia, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Busy Bee Cafe

810 Martin Luther King Jr Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30314, USA

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In business since 1947, this Vine City soul food institution’s calling card is its lauded fried chicken. Civil Rights leaders frequently used it as a refueling stop and meeting place. In addition to some of the best fried chicken in Atlanta, dine on collards, chitlins, peach cobbler, and sweet tea.

Polaris

265 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA

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Shaped like a blue flying saucer 22 floors above downtown, Polaris has been an iconic part of Atlanta’s skyline (and history) since 1967. The rotating restaurant atop the Hyatt Regency has closed and reopened more than once, most recently roaring back to life in 2022, and it still makes a full rotation every 45 minutes. The short menu leans toward classics: steak Oscar served over creamy whipped potatoes with a little copper pot of bone marrow bearnaise, lamb loin with chimichurri, and the Blue Dome dessert — chocolate mousse with a caramel-honey center and sprayed with blue-tinted cocoa butter to resemble the restaurant’s distinctive domed roof. Reservations are required.

Trader Vic's

255 Courtland St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA

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Few hotel restaurants in Atlanta are as iconic as Trader Vic’s, tucked into the bottom floor of the Hilton Atlanta since 1976. It’s one of only two remaining Trader Vic’s in the United States, and it’s the only American one still standing that founder and legendary barman “Trader Vic” Bergeron personally helped design. The bar menu pours tiki classics like the Mai Tai, which Bergeron is credited with inventing, and the Zombie, plus the frozen Peachtree Punch (found only in Atlanta). Dine on everything from crab rangoon and salt and pepper calamari to kung pao chicken, volcano shrimp, and rack of lamb served with curry vegetable Singapore noodles.

Paschal's Restaurant

180 Northside Dr SW #B, Atlanta, GA 30313, USA

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The historic Paschal’s restaurant served as a meeting place for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his lieutenants during thecivil rights movement. Aretha Franklin and Dizzy Gillespie stopped by too. But long before MLK put Paschal’s on the map nationwide, the restaurant, which opened in 1947 in a different location than its current location, was already known in Atlanta for its delicious fried chicken — and it still is today.

The Beautiful Restaurant

2260 Cascade Rd, Atlanta, GA 30311, USA

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Opened by a local church in 1979, the Beautiful takes its name from the temple gate called Beautiful in Acts 3:2. Since then, the Cascade Road stalwart, deeply rooted in the local community and full of hospitality, has been loading plates from its cafeteria line with soul food staples, including fried chicken, baked spaghetti, fried catfish, and banana pudding. It’s primarily a lunch spot, but it also opens early for breakfast on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Closed Mondays.